Coffee & Banana Smoothie
INGREDIENTS:
-
1/2 cup coffee
- 1/2 cup coconut drink
- 5 dried dates
- 1 teaspoon flaked almonds
- 1/2 banana
Buy People all over the world love coffee. Not only does it taste great, but it also has health-promoting properties. It contains antioxidants and nutrients that can have a positive effect on the body. Studies show that drinking coffee can reduce the risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes.
Do you prefer traditional black coffee or with some extras? How about a coffee smoothie? When combined with a banana, which is a rich source of potassium, this beverage can be a real nutritional and energy bomb.
Preparation
I blended all the ingredients, adding a bit of water until the consistency was right.
Cool the coffee first
Do not pour hot coffee into a closed blender. Steam expands in a sealed jug and pushes the lid off, which at best means coffee up the kitchen wall. If your blender has a vented lid it is safer, but hot liquid still works against the drink itself: it softens the banana to slush and melts any frozen element, so what you get is warm and thin rather than thick and cold.
The easiest version uses coffee brewed the evening before and kept in the fridge, or cold brew. If you are making it fresh, brew the half cup first, do everything else while it cools, and give it fifteen minutes.
The dates are the sweetener, and they need softening
There is no honey, syrup or sugar in this recipe. Five dried dates carry all of the sweetness, which is why they cannot stay hard: an ordinary blender leaves them as dark specks in a gritty drink no matter how long it runs.
Use the coffee to do the work. Pour the hot coffee over the dates and let them sit for 15 to 20 minutes, which softens them and cools the coffee in one step. High-power blenders handle dry dates, but even then the texture is better after a soak. If your dates are the soft Medjool kind, ten minutes is plenty.
Freeze the banana half
The recipe adds water at the end to get the consistency right, which is the honest way to do it and also the way that dilutes the flavour. A frozen banana half does the same job in reverse: it thickens the smoothie and chills it without adding anything.
Peel and slice bananas before freezing, in a bag, and they keep three months. It is also the obvious use for the ones on the counter that have gone too far to eat. Straight from the freezer they need a strong blender, so give them five minutes out first if yours struggles.
Almonds, and how thick to make it
A teaspoon of flaked almonds blends into a barely noticeable nuttiness. If you want them to be a texture rather than a flavour, keep them back and scatter them on top instead, toasted dry in a pan for a minute.
Add water a tablespoon at a time. A smoothie thickens slightly as it stands while the blended dates and banana settle, so stopping just before it looks right leaves you in the right place a minute later.
When to drink it
Half a cup of coffee puts this somewhere around a single espresso, so it is a modest amount of caffeine, though the dates and banana make it a much more substantial drink than coffee alone. That makes it a breakfast or a pre-workout drink rather than something to have with a meal.
It does not keep. Blended banana browns and separates within a couple of hours, so make it when you want to drink it. If you would rather have breakfasts and pre-workout snacks planned into the week with a shopping list, that is what the Diet & Training by Ann app does.
Coffee and banana smoothie
Ingredients
Method
- Brew the coffee and pour it over the dried dates, leaving them to soften for 15 to 20 minutes while the coffee cools.
- Put the cooled coffee and dates, the coconut drink, the banana and the flaked almonds into a blender.
- Blend until smooth, adding a little water a tablespoon at a time until the consistency is right.
- Serve straight away.
Notes
Frequently asked questions
Better not. Steam expands in a sealed jug and pushes the lid off. Hot liquid also works against the drink, softening the banana to slush, so the result is warm and thin rather than thick and cold. Use coffee brewed the evening before, cold brew, or let a fresh half cup cool for fifteen minutes.
Yes, unless you have a high-power blender, and even then the texture is better for it. Five dried dates carry all the sweetness in this recipe, and hard ones stay as dark specks in a gritty drink. Pour the hot coffee over them for 15 to 20 minutes, which softens the dates and cools the coffee at once.
Freeze the banana half. It thickens and chills the smoothie without adding anything, which is what the water at the end of the recipe does at the cost of flavour. Peel and slice bananas before freezing and they keep three months.
A teaspoon blended in gives a barely noticeable nuttiness. If you want them as a texture rather than a flavour, keep them back and scatter them on top, toasted dry in a pan for a minute.
No. Blended banana browns and separates within a couple of hours, so make it when you want to drink it. Half a cup of coffee puts it around a single espresso, which makes it a breakfast or pre-workout drink rather than something for later in the day. Breakfasts and pre-workout snacks come planned into the week with a shopping list in the Diet & Training by Ann app.
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